KIM BEATSON

ANTHONY GOLD

‘ I am a naturally curious person, which is why family law suited me. I also love problem solving,’ says Kim Beatson. Head of family law at the London firm, she works with a broad range of clients, covering the whole range of family law including finance, children, pre-nuptial arrangements, unmarried couples and international work. Beatson’s most significant case this year is ongoing, and involves a forum dispute in Spain which is currently subject to an appeal over there. ‘I am hoping it is thrown out so that we can continue the case in England which I feel would be the equitable outcome,’ she says. An important trend in family law in the past few years has been ‘a proliferation of international work with mixed nationality marriages and ease of working throughout the EU’, while another is the marked increase in fathers applying for improved parental arrangements. ‘Fathers quite rightly will not put up with alternate weekend contact and are much more involved than they used to be.’ When it comes to overdue reforms to the law, Beatson is passionate about giving co-habitants (certainly those with children) more financial rights and introducing a no fault divorce system. One of the first solicitors in the country to qualify as a family mediator in 1987, Beatson is proud to now have a substantial mediation practice, with frequent referrals coming from other family lawyers.